Lumen Summer 2013 - Flipbook - Page 6
story by Ben Osborne
A high distinction
for sport
2012 has been a golden year for
sport at the University of Adelaide.
L
ong a staple of campus life at
Adelaide, the on- and off-field
accomplishments of graduates, staff
and students continue to grow and are
truly global in scope.
This year’s notable achievements
include:
> Thirteen alumni winning a total of 12
medals at the London Olympics and
Paralympics;
> Co-hosting the Australian University
Games in September, at which the
University’s biggest ever Games team
finished fifth overall and second on a
per capita basis;
> The Sports Engineering discipline – the
first to be established at an Australian
university – going from strength to
strength.
The University’s medal haul was led by
Australia’s most successful Paralympian,
Matt Cowdrey OAM (see separate story),
but there were many other world-class
performances.
> Health Sciences student Annette
Edmondson capped off a meteoric
rise through world cycling ranks with a
bronze in the women’s omnium.
> Scott McPhee, a Commerce student,
won gold piloting for Kieran Modra in the
Paralympic cycling.
> Commerce and Computer Science
graduate Chris Morgan rowed to bronze
with fellow alumnus James McRae in the
men’s Olympic quad sculls.
> James McRae, is a Sports and
Mechanical Engineering student who
also competed at the University Games.
More than 380 students competed at
the University Games, winning 38 medals
across 14 sports: 12 gold, 15 silver and
11 bronze.
General Manager of Adelaide University
Sport, Mike Daws, said it was a very
successful week for the Blacks.
“It was our biggest ever team, and
4 Lumen | Summer 2013
coming fifth equals our best ever result,”
he said. Our rowing team had a great week
– we were overall champions and we won
back the Oxford and Cambridge Cup in the
Men’s Eights. We also won team pennants
in women’s volleyball, men’s squash and
men’s badminton as well as the women’s
individual trophy in golf.”
Away from the glow of the Olympics,
the University’s Sports Engineering
program continues to build a national and
international profile.
Program coordinator, Dr Paul Grimshaw,
said the new engineering area –
established in 2008 – now has more than
60 undergraduate students across four
year levels and has already established
some very strong links with industry
such as Cycling Australia, The Australian
Institute of Sport in Canberra and Golf
Biodynamics in the USA.
“It’s a really exciting time for us, there’s
a lot going on,” he said.
“We’ve got a new $250,000 sports
engineering laboratory here in one of the
Engineering buildings that can perform
full 3D analyses and a range of other
modelling, testing and research activities.
We can also use the University’s new
wind tunnel to examine aerodynamic
applications in a number of different sports,
with cycling being one obvious example.
“We’re working with organisations like
Cycling Australia and Cricket Australia to
help them improve their performance by
tuning both athletes and equipment. Our
graduates are already out and working in
prominent roles in the sports world; we
have three working with the Australian
Institute of Sport.
“And I’m really pleased that the number
of women undergraduates studying Sports
Engineering has gone up each year – one
of the things we identified at the start was
that we wanted women to be involved and
this is increasingly the case.”
Above: Student Andrew
Giam competing in
the 1600m relay at the
University Games.
Photo by Alvin Tan,
courtesy of the
Adelaide University
Photography Club.
